Therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.

It is important to understand this verse, because it is the key to the Epistle. In the deepest sense, righteousness stands for two things — first, our standing before God; and next, our personal characterour position and our condition — what we are in Jesus, and what we are in ourselves by the Holy Spirit. Hooker, therefore, well expresses the truth when he says, “The righteousness with which we shall be clothed in the world to come, is both perfect and inherent; that wherewith we are justified is perfect, but not inherent; that by which we are sanctified is inherent, but not perfect.” The term righteousness, therefore, covers justification and sanctification, whereof the former is treated in the first five chapters of this Epistle; and to this we confine ourselves.

There is a difference between forgiveness and justification. By forgiveness the sinner may be reinstated in the confidence of Him whom he has wronged; by justification he is declared righteous according to law, and thereby commended to the confidence and respect of all men.

Revelation And Response

I tried to tell Felix about my faith. He was polite, but he said he would rather not discuss religion. His goal in life was to be a decent person and to find as much enjoyment as he could. He had concluded that death ends everything. He said he was happy with his beliefs.

Apparently Felix refused to think seriously about God's revelation of Himself in nature (Job 38; Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:20) and within his own conscience (Rom. 1:18-21; 2:14-16).

God has revealed Himself in the created world, in our inner nature, and in the Bible. All people are responsible for what they do with God's self-disclosure. We can rationalize away His revelation in the created world. We can refuse the inner witness of our conscience. We can reject the Bible. But those responses lead to hell.

The best and most appropriate response to God's revelation is awe, acknowledgment of sin, and confession. This leads to forgiveness, inner peace, and everlasting life.

If you've rejected God's revelation of Himself, repent and turn to Him before it's too late. If you've decided to open your heart to Jesus Christ, you can be sure you'll be welcomed into His presence for all eternity. --HVL

The Lord reveals Himself to you
In many different ways;
So don't reject and turn away;
Instead, give Him your praise. --Sper

The law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith. (r.v.)

This is a great announcement, and shows how God can judge men who have never heard of the Bible or the Decalogue. The latter is engraven on their hearts, and is witnessed to by conscience.

Conscience is an original faculty. We are no more called upon to investigate its origin than the mathematician to inquire how the mind can add, or multiply, or divide; or than the artist to ask why we can appreciate the beautiful. It is part of the make-up and constitution of our moral nature. The word ought lies behind conscience, investing it with the certainty and irresistibleness of the throne of God.

Conscience is the judgment-seat of God set up within our nature. You may always know when conscience speaks. She never hesitates, or questions, or pronounces on the expediency of a course; but, as any case is presented to her, she pronounces absolutely and directly upon it as right or wrong. And as she speaks, she anticipates the verdict of the great white throne.

TALKING AND WALKING

You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? --Romans 2:21

A professor of ethics at a leading university was attending a convention. He and another teacher of philosophy had lunch at a restaurant and were discussing deep issues of truth and morality. Before they left the table, the professor slipped the silverware into his pocket. Noticing his colleague's puzzled look, he explained, "I just `teach' ethics. I need the spoons."

By vocation that man was paid to instruct his students in the principles of right and wrong. But outside the classroom he failed to put those principles into practice. Profession without practice is hypocrisy, and hypocrisy is a sin.

Jesus reminded the hypocrites of His day that God had declared through Isaiah, "These people ... honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me" (Is. 29:13). He could just as well have cited God's rebuke to Israel through Ezekiel, "They hear Your words, but they do not do them" (33:32).

The Christian life is like a coin. One side is belief; the other is behavior. If our behavior isn't consistent with our belief, we are hypocrites. By God's enabling grace, we need to bring practice and profession into alignment. We must walk our talk, then we can talk our walk. VCG

Unless my talk about my faith
Is mirrored in my walk,
The faith that glibly I profess
Is merely empty talk. --Anon.

That He might be just, and the Justifier.

This verse is often quoted as though the word yet must be inserted to bring out its meaning. “Just, and yet the Justifier.” The marvel of a just God justifying sinful men is thus strongly accentuated. Of course, this is a true thought and marvellous. But it is not the precise idea of the apostle, when he says that the just God is the Justifier of those that have faith in Jesus. He means that the very justice of God has come on our side, and that his love may have its unhindered way, not only consistently with his justice, but because of it.

This is the heart of the Gospel. Jesus has stood ac our representative. He has borne our sin, in its curse and penalty; has met the claims of a broken law, and satisfied the demands of infinite righteousness. To have done this in our name and on our behalf not only makes us free from any penalty which might otherwise have accrued, but gives as a claim — the claim of the righteous — on all those blessings which the righteous government of God has to bestow.

Directly we become one with Jesus by a living faith, we stand possessed of all that He has done and is. In Him we have already suffered all that the holy law of God could demand as the just penalty of our sins. In Him we have laid in the grave, paying the uttermost farthing that could be exacted. In Him we have been liberated from the prison-house, and have passed into the presence and welcome of God. We may claim, therefore, that the law of God should make for us, as once it made against us. We are saved not only by the grace, but by the justice of God. He is faithful to his Son and just to the law, when He forgives us our sins.

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.

It was a marvellous promise that this childless pair should have a child, and become progenitors of a great nation, so that the stars of the heavenly vault and the sand-grains on the ocean-shore should not be more numerous. And it was enough to stagger any man to be told of it. But Abraham staggered not. How was this?

It did not arise from ignoring the difficulties that obstructed its realization. — He might have done so. Whenever the natural obstacles arose in his mind, he might have ignored them. But this, according to the r.v. rendering of the previous verse, was not Abraham’s policy. He quietly and deliberately considered the enormous difficulties that lay in the path of the Divine purpose, and in spite of them “he staggered not.”

But his unstaggering faith arose from, his great thoughts of Him who had promised. — He kept saying to himself, He is able, He is able. He knew that God would not have said what He could not perform. He knew that the God of nature was Lord of the nature He had made. He knew that no word of the Almighty could be destitute of power. He fed his faith by cherishing lofty and profound thoughts of God’s infinite resources. There rang in his heart the assurance, I am El Shaddai.

GETTING READY FOR CHRISTMAS

We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. --Romans 5:1

It's coming -- a very confusing time of year for many people:  Christmas. Although it's supposed to be a time of peace and joy,  some consider it the most depressing. A counselor friend of mine mentioned that he sees more people during the Christmas holidays than at any other time.

Apparently, not everyone experiences the much-talked-about joy of the season. One's own bad feelings contrasted with other's good times can make life seem doubly depressing.

If that happens to you, if you're down when others are up, you'll find Paul's words in Romans 5 helpful. He said we have:

* Peace (v.1). Faith in Jesus brings the most important source of comfort: strong fellowship with God.

* Hope (v.2). Loss of hope is always a problem for those who are down. There can be no better hope than a future spent with God -- and that's the promise.

* Joy (vv.3-4). The bad we endure is not purposeless. God's plan is being carried out, and our troubles will make us the kind of people God can use.

Even when things look bad, no one or no event can take away the promise of peace, hope, and joy. That can make any season a joyful one. JDB

The hope we have in Jesus Christ
Brings joy into our heart;
And when we know the love of God,
His peace He will impart. --Sper

THE FRUIT OF AFFLICTION

we glory in tribulations also Romans 5:3

We sometimes say that certain people have "two strikes" against them. By this we mean they start out their lives under the cloud of some difficulty. It may be the character of their parents, their environment, their appearance, or a disability that came upon them while they were still young. One such person was Mercy Goodfaith. She was an orphan, and at the age of ten was un­happy, sickly, ill-tempered, ugly, and hunch-backed. No one seemed to love her, and no one wanted her until one day a woman came to the orphanage looking for a child no one else would take.

Thirty-five years later reports were circulated that one county-appointed home for orphans stood out above all others. A case-worker reported that the children were clean and happy. The matron of this home frequently sang with the children while one of the older girls assisted by playing on a small pump organ. They all seemed to have a deep affection for the housemother and constantly flocked about her. She in turn gave each one the utmost in love and gracious attention. This great and helpful woman was none other than the outwardly ugly hunchback named Mercy Goodfaith. Her affliction had not made her bitter, but had led her into a life of service and devotion to others.

The patriarch Joseph also experienced a great deal of misfor­tune in his lifetime, first at the hand of his brothers and then in his early days in Egypt. He did not deserve the things he suffered. Yet he never became spiteful, never lost his faith, but was able to give a glowing testimony of his submission to the ways of God. The trials were necessary in order that the Lord's loving purpose for the sons of Jacob might be fulfilled.

Your misfortunes need not be tragedies. They can be stepping-stones to a life of sweet fellowship with God and service to others. It is your response to affliction that makes the difference!

For every hill I've had to climb,
For every stone that bruised my feet,
For all the blood and tears and grime,
For blinding storms and burning heat,
My heart sings but a grateful song
These were the things that made me strong!—Anon.

NO GREATER LOVE

God commendeth his love that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

A young British soldier, Alexander Russell, was on his way to join his regiment in India when the ship on which he was sail­ing was torpedoed. Within minutes the lifeboats were crowded to capacity. On the one that Mr. Russell boarded was a young mother with her newborn infant. Anxiously looking for her hus­band, she suddenly spied him struggling helplessly in the water. Becoming hysterical, she cried out for someone to save him. Exhibiting great courage, Alexander Russell dove overboard, rescued the drowning man, and placed him in the boat. Not one of the frail barks bobbing on the waves could possibly bear the weight of another man, so with strong vigorous strokes the young man swam away to his death.

Alexander Russell died for a fine young husband and fa­ther. His heroic act reminds us of what Paul says in Romans 5:7, ". . . yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die." We admire such selfless courage. What feelings would we entertain, however, if this promising young man had given his life to save a drunkard, a gangster, or a murderer? We might be inclined to say, "That type of person is not worth such a sacri­fice!" Yet that was not the attitude displayed by the Lord Jesus. He died for the very people who mocked Him and nailed Him to the cross!

You and I, like those who hated Christ when He was here on earth, are sinners; but despite our enmity, God loved us so much that He was willing to send His Son to die in ignominy and shame to save us. Such compassion surpasses our limited capacity for heroism. It requires a divine love which goes "be­yond all human measure."

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind! —Faber

GOD LOVES NAUGHTY BOYS

But God commendeth his love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8

The love of God goes beyond all human comprehension. With our finite minds we cannot fully grasp the significance of this truth. It is impossible to fathom how a holy God should so love sinners that He would actually give His very own Son to die that they might be saved. Who of us would ever give one of our precious children to die that the world's worst criminal might be spared from paying his just debt to society?

God's love for sinners is beautifully emphasized in a story told by the late Dr. H. A. Ironside. When he was a lad he attended a missionary meeting where the speaker displayed many interest­ing curios which he had brought back from the field. Right in the middle of his talk, however, he stopped abruptly, and said, "Boys, I'd like to tell you what kind of Gospel we preach to the people in Africa. But, first of all, this one question: How many good boys do we have in the room today?" All of those present wanted to raise their hands, but not a one dared — their mothers were there and they knew better! Since not a hand was lifted, the missionary continued, "If that's the case, then the message I have for you is exactly the same that we give to the heathen in Africa, for God loves naughty boys!" Dr. Ironside says that as a lad he first rebelled against that statement, since he had always heard that the Lord loved you if you were good. But then, as the speaker continued, he discovered that the missionary was right after all. God did not wait for people to become good before He decided to save them. Rather, "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

Yes, God hates sin, but He loves the sinner. Have you taken time to thank Him for His love today?

The love of God is greater far
Than tongue or pen can ever tell;
It goes beyond the highest star,
And reaches to the lowest Hell. —F. M. Lehman

God loves us out of His own nature, and not on conditions. —Beecher

LOVING THE UNLOVELY

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.--Romans 5:8

An inner-city mission worker longed to show Christ's love to others, but she found it difficult to give genuine affection to one particular vagrant. One day the sickly and unkempt woman to whom she had been witnessing was sentenced to jail. When the Christian worker saw her sobbing bitterly, she was filled with compassion. Quickly going to her side, she tenderly put her arm around her. Never having felt such love, the distressed woman was deeply moved, and later she accepted Jesus as her Savior.

After being released from prison, the woman was nursed back to health by the mission worker. Not only had a needy sinner been rescued, but a Christian had been brought into a deeper experience of Christlike compassion.

God doesn't love us because we're lovable but because of His grace. We freely receive His undeserved favor through the Savior, who loved us "while we were still sinners" (Rom. 5:8). We are to reflect this new relationship with Christ in our daily lives by showing his compassion to those who are difficult to love.

As one who has been saved by God's grace, are you showing His love to the unlovely? HGB

Give to the needy a warm helping hand,
And lift up the fallen today;
Filled with God's Spirit, love all who are lost,
And point them to Jesus, the Way! --HGB

They which receive abundance of grace … shall reign in life.

All God’s dealings with us are on the same principle. As we received Christ Jesus the Lord, so we must walk in Him. Whether it be justification or sanctification; whether reconciliation or reigning in life that is under consideration — the same mighty principles underlie and control the Divine gifts and our participation in them. We receive reconciliation as a gift at the beginning of our Christian life, and we have to receive all else by the same medium to the end. For ever and for ever we have just to wait till God fill us, as the flower-cups that are now filled with sunshine and now with dew or rain.

You have already received the reconciliation (Romans 5:11). — Unable to earn it by your own endeavors, you were at last content to receive it as a free gift placed into your open hand; now you have to maintain the same position with respect to all the spiritual gifts that you need for the maintenance of a godly life, and to enable you to reign. Faith — simple, open-handed, heaven-regarding faith — is the one unchanging law of the holy life.
“Trusting Jesus, that is all.”

Present yourselves unto God. (r.v.)

We must choose. On the one hand stands sin, filling the market-place with its appeals, and bidding for us; on the other hand, God in the person of his Son. For it is well known that to whomsoever we yield ourselves to obey, his servants we shall be. Sin wants us, not only to work its fell results by us, but to curse and ruin us; whilst God wants to bless us with eternal life.

We may not be able to forecast or to arrange many things in our lives, which are difficult and perplexing; and at first it is not wise to discuss our attitude or action with respect to them. The first and most momentous question which presses for immediate solution is, whether we are prepared to present our members — brain, voice, hand, heart — to God; that through them He may fulfill his good purpose.

The argument is a very cogent one. The apostle tells us that we have been delivered from death; that in Jesus Christ we have been brought back to stand on the resurrection side of the grave. For such a wondrous deliverance, he exclaims, there is only one adequate return. Present yourselves to be the slaves of your Redeemer. Surely none of us would resemble the rich man, who was saved from drowning by a brave sailor, and offered him half-acrown in recompense!

"FORBIDDEN FRUIT"

The sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.- Romans 7:5

In Galveston, Texas, a hotel on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico put this notice in each room:

No Fishing From The Balcony

Yet every day, hotel guests threw in their lines to the waters below. Then the management decided to take down the signs -- and the fishing stopped!

In his Confessions, Augustine (354-430), the well-known theologian, reflected on this attraction to the forbidden. He wrote, "There was a pear tree near our vineyard, laden with fruit. One stormy night we rascally youths set out to rob it ... We took off a huge load of pears -- not to feast upon ourselves, but to throw them to the pigs, though we ate just enough to have the pleasure of the forbidden fruit. They were nice pears, but it was not the pears that my wretched soul coveted, for I had plenty better at home. I picked them simply to become a thief ... The desire to
steal was awakened simply by the prohibition of stealing."

Romans 7 sets forth the truth illustrated by Augustine's experience: Human nature is inherently rebellious. Give us a law and we will see it as a challenge to break it. Jesus, however, forgives our lawbreaking and gives us the Holy Spirit. He imparts a new desire and ability so that our greatest pleasure becomes bringing pleasure to God. -HWR

Why do we keep on trying
The far of this world's sin
When God has set before us
The joy of Christ within? -JDB

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells

Several years ago we had a pet raccoon we called Jason. For hours he would entertain us by wrestling with our dog, MacTavish, a kind and gentle Scottish terrier. Jason, on the other hand, was a kind of schiz­oid terror. One minute he would snuggle up on your lap like a perfect angel and the next he'd be engaged in the most fiendish antics. If unrestrained, he would breakfast on dove eggs, raid the garbage can, or tear up the flowerbed. Although he was a delightful pet, we became increasingly aware that his destructive actions were governed by his wild instincts. Jason would always have the nature of a raccoon, and we had to watch him closely no matter how tame he seemed to be.

Often when I observed Jason's behavior, I thought of the fallen, sin­ful nature that we as Christians retain even though we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Paul referred to this as the "flesh" in which "nothing good dwells" (Rom. 7:18). It may be repressed and restrained, but it is always there. Unless we are daily controlled by the Lord, our old "self" will demonstrate its destructive, pleasure-seeking capacity in some way or another.

Although we are new creatures in Christ, we still possess a tendency to sin. But we need not be governed by it, for we are united to Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit. By obeying God's Word and yielding to the Spirit, we can be victorious over the flesh—the "nature of the beast" within. —M.R.D.II

The secret of self-control is to give control of ourselves to God.

O wretched man that I am!

This chapter is very full of the personal pronoun. Me and I are the pivot around which its argument revolves. The strenuous efforts which the soul makes, not so much to justify as to sanctify itself, to realize its ideal, to walk worthy of the Lord, are well-pleasing, and are described by a master hand.

Is there one of us who has not read these words repeatedly, and in desperation? They have been so exactly true. We have longed with passionate sincerity that a new man might arise in us to free us from our old man, and make us the men we fain would be. We have been conscious of a subtle force mastering our struggles, like the serpents overcoming Laocoon and his sons; we have realized that a corrupting carcass was bound to our backs, as to the Roman criminals of old, filling the air with miasma, and poisoning our life. We have cried bitterly, O wretched man, who shall deliver?

The key to the plaintive moan of this chapter consists in this. It is the result of the endeavor to live a holy life apart from the power of the indwelling Savior, and independently of the grace of the Holy Spirit. All such efforts are sure to end in wretchedness. We can no more sanctify ourselves than we can justify. Deliverance from the power of sin is the gift of God’s grace, as forgiveness is. And it is only when we have come to the very end of all our strivings and resolvings, and have abandoned ourselves to the Savior He should do in us and for us what we cannot do for ourselves, that we are led to cry, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

All things are possible to God;
To Christ, the power of God in men,
To me, when I am all subdued,
When I, in Christ, am born again.

How thankful we can be that eternal life is based on our relationship with God through Christ. -HWR

We're members of God's family,
We're children of the King;
Because we've put our faith in Christ,
To us He'll always cling. -Sper

The obstacles that we must face
Along life's rocky way,
Are used by God so we might hear
"Well done" from Him someday.-- Sper

We are saved by hope -- Romans 8:24

The Saving Power of Hope

It is not difficult as one looks out on life to recognize the saving power of hope. One thinks, for instance, to what a large extent it is hope which saves humanity from idleness. When a student faces an examination, it is his uncertainty that makes him toil. Were he perfectly sure that he would fail or pass, that would take all the zest out of his studies. Hope is the kindly instrument of God for rescuing mankind from inactivity, and inactivity is sister to stagnation. It is in hope that the writer wields his pen; it is in hope that the sower casts his seed. Search deep enough into the springs of action -- you always catch the whispering of hope. In a large sense, we are saved by hope from the tragedy of doing nothing in a world where there is everything to do.

There is a threefold groaning here.

Creation groans (Romans 8:22). — The sufferings of the dumb animals, under the brutal tyranny of man; in hard service; in the torture chambers of vivisectionists; to yield pleasure; to give food; or to provide dress — must fill the ear of Heaven with groans. The sighs of myriads of acres, condemned to bear the poisonous poppy or the barley for the manufacture of spirit, must be heard across the broad expanse of space. There is a discord, an oppression, a vanity in the universe around us, which constantly betrays the secret oppression of evil. Goethe said that Nature seemed to him to be like a captive maiden crying aloud for release.

The saints groan (Romans 8:23). — We wait for our adoption, for the manifestation of our sonship, for the redemption of our bodies from the last remnants of the fall; and as we wait, we groan beneath the pressure of the present, the weight of mortality, and with eager desire for the blessed advent of the Lord.

The Spirit groans (Romans 8:26). — The pressure of sin and sorrow in our world is heavy for Him to bear, and He sighs bitterly, as Jesus did when He stood face to face with the grave of his dead friend.

But these groans portend life, not death. They are full of hope, not despair. They are the pangs of birth, not the throes of death. Out of the agony of the present the new heavens and earth are being born.

UNBLEMISHED BEAUTY

Whom He foreknow, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son. --Romans 8:29

Women in nearly record numbers, we're told, were drawn in envy to the picture of a well-known movie actress on the cover of a popular magazine. She had been portrayed as possessing flawless beauty.

But the editors of another magazine published a follow-up story telling about a photo company that had billed the first magazine $1,525 for their work on the picture "to clean up complexion, soften eye line, soften smile line, add color to lips, trim chin,...adjust color, and add hair on the top of the head." So however beautiful she actually is, she needed something--quite a little it seems--to hide the blemishes that would quickly destroy her image of "ideal loveliness."

What a picture of man's spiritual condition! Every one of us is flawed when compared with the moral excellence of Christ (Rom. 3:23). No matter how good we may appear, we need more than a religious touchup to conceal our sins. We desperately need the soul-cleansing, atoning blood of Jesus Christ. When we trust Jesus as our Savior, God gives us His flawless righteousness. From then on, He works within us by His Spirit to conform us to His likeness.

Are we making the unblemished beauty of Christlike character the daily goal of our life? VCG

Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity;
O Thou Spirit divine, all my nature refine,
Till the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.--Orsborn

Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. (r.v.)

The apostle is dealing here, not with individuals as such, but with peoples w id nations. For instance, Isaac stands for the entire Jewish race — Abraham’s seed (Romans 9:7). He is dealing with the question, why it was that God chose Israel and rejected Edom; chose Jacob and rejected Esau: and he shows that the ultimate decision of their destinies lay in the purpose of God, according to election. The one was elect to be a channel of immense blessing to the world; whilst the other was rejected.

But we must always associate the Divine foreknowledge with the Divine choice. “Whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate.” We must regard Jacob and Esau, not as individual personalities merely, but as the founders of nations. For God’s purpose in the building-up of the chosen people, Jacob the methodical and far-seeing, was more suited than Esau the free-lance, the rover, the child of impulse and passion. And, besides, there were religious aptitudes and capacities within him, of which Esau gave no sign or trace. This does not solve the entire mystery, perhaps; but only casts it a degree or two further back. Still, it ought to be considered. Like a candle, it casts a slender ray on to the black abyss. In any case, is it not certain that God’s choice did alight on him who was most suited to serve the Divine purpose?

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, etc. (r.v.)

Salvation here is evidently to be taken in its most extended meaning. It stands even more for the deliverance of the soul from the love and dominion of sin than for the removal of its justly incurred penalty. That we should be pure in heart, holy in thought, consecrated in life, with all the range of our nature controlled by his indwelling Spirit — such is the Divine intention with respect to us, as suggested by this deep, great word Salvation. But there are two conditions, on our compliance with which this saving power is realized.

We must confess Jesus as Lord. — Throughout Scripture there is a close connection between Christ’s Royalty and his Saviorship. “Behold, thy King cometh to thee, ... having salvation;” “Him hath God set forth to be a Prince and a Savior.” “Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, ... made like unto the Son of God, abideth a priest continually.” We shall never know Christ as a Savior from inbred sin until we have definitely and absolutely enthroned Him in our hearts. A physician is not content with healing outbreaks of disease and fever when they occur; but claims leave to examine all the arrangements of the house, so as to deal with the sources of the mischief.

Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.

This verse reminds us of those lagoons of perfectly still clear water, of which travellers tell. So clear, that it is easily possible to look into their translucent depths to where the submarine foliage waves! So deep, that the ordinary measuring line fails to plumb them! All these words are monosyllables. A child just learning to read could easily spell them out. But who shall exhaust their meaning?

Of Him. — The entire scheme of redemption; the marvellous history of the chosen people, with which this chapter is occupied; the universe of matter, all are included in the all things that have emanated out of God. No one has been his counsellor, or given aught to Him. From all created things, which are as the stream, let us climb to Him, who is their fountain, source, and origin; and in Him let us learn to fill our own souls to the very brim.

Through Him. — Through Jesus Christ, the Mediator, God has poured the entire grace and wealth of his nature to bless and help us. There is no good thing that does not come to us through the mediatior, of the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Through Him He made the worlds. Through Him we have received the reconciliation. Through Him, also, all grace is made to abound towards us. Never forget to magnify the Lord Jesus as the source of all yout supply.

Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.

To present carries us back to Romans 7. We might almost say that the intervening chapters, after the manner of the apostle, are one prolonged digression or parenthesis, and that he classes all the great things with which he has been treating as among the mercies of God, and as reasons for our entire consecration. Every disclosure of God’s grace towards us is an argument for our complete surrender to his will and power.

We are called on to present our bodies as instruments of righteousness, because all true regimen of the inner life immediately affects the body in all its members; and, conversely, the consecration of the body reacts upon and affects the temper of the soul. It would be well for you to take bliss Havergal’s hymn, with its enumeration of the various parts of the body, and offer and present yourself, to be from this day and forward, wholly for God. Only believe that He is more anxious for this than words can tell, because He loves you so, and that He accepts immediately what you offer.

Such consecration must be living; that is, it must enter into all our life, being holy, well-pleasing to God, and rational. It is not only reasonable when we consider the relation we sustain to Him, but it should engage all our intelligence and reasoning faculties. And when it is made, and the soul is becoming duly transfigured in its exercise, we begin to prove that God’s will, which once we dreaded, is also good, well-pleasing, and perfect. When we look at God’s will from a distance, and before consecration, it seems impossible. It is only when we begin to obey, that we can say:

“Thou sweet beloved will of God.”

For I say . . . to everyone . . . not to think of himself more highly than he ought

A man who had just been elected to the British Parliament brought his family to London and was giving them a tour of the city. When they entered Westminster Abbey, his eight-year-old daughter seemed awe-struck by the size and beauty of that magnificent structure. Her proud father, curious about what was going on in her mind, asked, "And what, my child, are you thinking about?" She replied, "Daddy, I was just thinking about how big you are in our house, but how small you look here!"

Pride can creep into our lives without our awareness. From time to time it's good for us to be "cut down to size." We need to be reminded not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think. It's easy to become proud when we stay in our own circles of life. But when we are thrust into larger situations, with increased demands, pressures, and competition, we come to the shocking realization that "big fish in small ponds" shrink quickly in a large ocean.

One thing that stands out in the Word of God is that the Lord despises the haughty. Under inspiration the psalmist said, "One who has a haughty look and a proud heart, him I will not endure" (Psalm 101:5) . And James said, "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6).

If we ask the Holy Spirit to help us see ourselves as we really are, He will enable us to control our foolish pride. —R.W.D.

Those who know God will be humble; those who know themselves cannot be proud.

Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ.

This verse is ever memorable from its association with the life of Augustine, who says: “Thus was I sick and tormented in mind, bitterly accusing myself, and rolling and turning about in my chain, till it might be wholly broken.”
At length, rushing into the garden, groaning in spirit, “all my bones were crying out, soul-sick was I and grievously tormented. I said to myself, ‘Be it done now; be it done now.’ And a voice said, ‘Why standest thou in thyself, and so standest not? Cast thyself upon Him. Fear not; He will not withdraw Himself, to let thee fall. He will receive, and will heal thee. Stop thine ears against those unclean members of thine, which are upon the earth, that they may be mortified.’”

He that herein serveth Christ is well-pleasing to God, and approved of men.

Dean Howson renders this verse thus: “He who lives in these things as Christ’s bondsman is well-pleasing to God, and cannot be condemned by men.” There are two rules, therefore, to be observed by us when we consider our behaviour in that great borderland which lies between the dark and light, the clearly wrong and clearly right. We are all conscious of habits and tastes, of inclinations towards certain forms of amusement and recreation, of methods of life, which do not contravene any distinct law of God, but are certainly open to question. It is such things that fall within the scope of these two principles.

First, we must always remember that we are Christ’s bondservants. — Let us look then, every day and hour, and as to the mental habit, every moment, upon Jesus Christ as our Master. Saintly George Herbert chose that to be, as it were, his best — beloved aspect of his Savior; “My Master, Jesus.” “An oriental fragrancy, my Master.” Let us do the same. Let us wear the word next the heart, next the will; nay, let it sink into the very springs of both, deeper every day. And as each fresh question arises in our life, let us stand close beside Him, noticing the expression of His face, asking Him what He would desire, and always reckoning that the least suggestion of his preference is law. “None of us liveth to himself for, whether we live, we live unto the Lord.”

I will not dare to speak of any things save those that Christ wrought through me. (r.v.)

All things that have not sprung from the indwelling and inworking power of Christ, are probably valueless in the sight of God. As the apostle dared not record them in this book, so probably they are not recorded in God’s book. They lack the one principle or germ of life. Our Lord said, Separate from Me ye can do nothing; and probably, therefore, whatever we do out of living union with Him amounts to nothing.

These words are a window into the apostle’s inner life. He was ever looking to the Lord to work through him, in the power of the Holy Ghost. He had nothing, therefore, to boast of, as he reviewed his labors; the impulse in which they originated, and the success with which they were crowned, were alike attributable to the Son of God, who had been revealed and formed within.

Let us so yield ourselves to Him, that the great Master may fulfill through us also all the good pleasure of his will.
Let us wait before Him in earnest expectancy, till the foundation of his purpose begins to arise within us; and let us receive from Him the gracious power of which to realize his plans. “I cannot,” one may say, “give that tract; speak to that fellowtraveller; witness for Christ on that ship or in that shop; stand up in that pulpit and preach.” No, perhaps not. But you can let Christ do these things through you.

Quartus the brother.

That is all we know about him. The others whose names are written here are more or less famous. Tertius wrote the Epistle; Gaius was evidently a man of influence; Erastus was the treasurer of the city, and so on. But Quartus was just a humble, simple Christian, who had no handle to his name, save his brotherliness and his desire to assure his Roman brethren, whom probably he had never seen, of his love to them. “So he begs a little corner in Paul’s letter, and gets it; and there, in his little niche, like some statue of a forgotten saint scarce seen amidst the glories of a great cathedral, ‘Quartus the brother’ stands to all time.”

What a lesson in humility! Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not. Be content to live and die unknown, except for the love that breathes through thy life, not to those of thine own circle merely, but for those across the sea, with whom thou wouldst fain strike hands. Thy one joy, that thou hast been born into the family of God. Thy creed, that all regenerate souls, of every name and sect, are members of the same family, children of the same Father, and therefore one in ties of peculiar tenderness and strength.